I was brought up to believe that what is out-of-doors should stay there and not be encouraged in any way. Gore Vidal More Quotes by Gore Vidal More Quotes From Gore Vidal The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttress; you need a religion if you are terrified of death. Gore Vidal punishment ideas religion The worst thing to happen to Lincoln - aside from the unfortunate incident at Ford's theatre - was to fall into the hands of Carl Sandburg. Gore Vidal theatre hands fall Teaching has ruined more American novelists than drink. Gore Vidal teaching drinking education I look into my own black heart. Gore Vidal black heart looks Life will be wonderful when men no longer fear dying. When the last superstitions are thrown out and we meet death with the same equanimity as life. No longer will children's minds be twisted by evil gods whose fantastic origin is in those barbaric tribes who feared death and lightning, who feared life. That's it: life is the villain to to those who preach reward in death, through grace and eternal bliss, or through dark revenge. Gore Vidal revenge dark children Religions sprang up among men to deal with the sometimes terrifying aspects of existence, to make sense out of the senseless, to explain things we find inexplicable. Gore Vidal sometimes men religion I'm a born - again atheist. Gore Vidal atheism atheist religion Little Bush says we are at war, but we are not at war because to be at war Congress has to vote for it. He says we are at war on terror, but that is a metaphor, though I doubt if he knows what that means. It's like having a war on dandruff, it's endless and pointless. Gore Vidal doubt war mean It is difficult to find a reputable American historian who will acknowledge the crude fact that a Franklin Roosevelt, say, wanted to be President merely to wield power, to be famed and to be feared. To learn this simple fact one must wade through a sea of evasions: history as sociology, leaders as teachers, bland benevolence as a motive force, when, finally, power is an end to itself, and the instinctive urge to prevail the most important single human trait, the necessary force without which no city was built, no city destroyed. Gore Vidal simple sea teacher This might explain why Obama gave billions to Wall Street crooks, and dragged the Iraq and Afghan wars on and on. Gore Vidal wall rights war To a born-again atheist like myself, it is clear that each of us has multiple selves, talents, perceptions. But to the Roman Catholic, unity is all. Gore Vidal catholic atheist self I do not much care for nature, and believe that flowers belong in vases rather than loose and untidy on the ground. Gore Vidal modern-life flower believe Although drugs are immoral and must be kept from the young, thousands of schools pressure parents to give the drug Ritalin to any lively child who may, sensibly, show signs of boredom in his classroom. Ritalin renders the child docile if not comatose. Side effects? "Stunted growth, facial tics, agitation and aggression, insomnia, appetite loss, headaches, stomach pains and seizures." Marijuana would be far less harmful. Gore Vidal pain children school I was taught to read by my grandmother. Central to her method was a tale of unnatural love called 'The Duck and the Kangaroo'. Then, because my grandfather, Senator Gore, was blind, I was required early on to read grown-up books to him, mostly constitutional law and, of course, the Congressional Record. The later continence of my style is a miracle, considering those years of piping the additional remarks of Mr. Borah of Idaho. Gore Vidal grandmother book children A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is ability to articulate human relationships. Gore Vidal genius writing drama In almost every case (where the United States has fought wars) our overwhelming commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights has required us to support those regimes that would deny freedom, democracy and human rights to their own people. Gore Vidal rights war commitment When anyone says to me, 'Can you keep a secret?' I say, 'Why should I, if you can't?' Gore Vidal investing should secret Never have varmints, only grandvarmints. Gore Vidal Envy is the central fact of American life. Gore Vidal american-life envy facts The hatred Americans have for their own government is pathological, if understandable. At one level it is simply thwarted greed: since our religion is making a buck, giving a part of that buck to any government is an act against nature. Gore Vidal government hatred giving
